This past Tuesday, Tudor Dixon, the Republican gubernatorial nominee for Michigan, issued a new proposal to set up a $1 billion plan that is seeking to recruit and retain both local and state law enforcement officers.
This new proposal from Dixon, which is more focused on “building a safe state,” would attempt to bring in over 5,000 local officers, 2,000 state and local corrections officers, 500 state troopers, and 5,000 fire and EMS personnel, stated a report from Detroit News.
“This is an extremely important issue for our state,” stated Dixon while attending an event hosted in Grand Rapids. “We feel it is our top issue because if we cannot keep our communities safe, we cannot keep people here.”
Dixon explained her new plan which will include a total of $700 million for the recruiting of new officers and establish them with signing bonuses to go along with free tuition. She is also seeking to have the state spend roughly $250 million to train officers in de-escalation techniques and issue them body cameras and riot gear. Another $50 million would go toward dealing with the backlog in rape kit processing and going after sex offenders.
As the Republican challenger to Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Sixon stated that her plan would assist in bringing an end to what she states is Whitmer’s “violent crime wave.”
Instances of violent crime throughout some Michigan cities have seen a spike over the past eight months. The second largest city in the state, Grand Rapids, saw about 761 assaults and 15 homicides in the first seven months of this year, which is a level that is above average from the last three years, as reported by Bridge Michigan. Detroit continues to deal with heavy levels of violence just as the city reported over five mass shootings in three months this year, including 182 homicides since the first of the year. Oakland County, just to the northwest of Detroit, has seen well over double the number of homicides that took place in 2021, and of the 26 reported, four were kids.
As seen in her Tuesday event, Dixon reminded those in attendance about the 2019 road patrol veto issued by the governor that could have cut almost 120 sheriff’s deputy’s positions all over the state. The plan saw heavy criticism from the Republican-led legislature of Michigan, and as such never went into effect.
The Republican candidate was seen with Kent County Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young, who heaped praise on Dixon for the statement, as reported by ABC 7 News.
“We think it’s so important that you have the backing of the chief executive officer of the state that’s coming out and saying the police are our priority,” claimed LaJoye-Young. “As you saw, that’s in our constitution. We have agreed to this. The governor should be the first one there saying we have their backs. That’s the discussion we’ve had with police across the state. Saying, just that perception that the top officials in our state don’t have our back is making it difficult to do our jobs.”